what cities/prefectures are located in northwest Japan?
 

My boyfriend and I plan to move to Japan permanently (it will not be for years; how many years until we move I don't know). I'm trying to learn Japanese so I can communicate with them in their native tongue and I can understand what they're saying. Learning Japanese and communication will be difficult because of the language barrier, and because even when I move to Japan (even though I have years to prepare with learning Japanese before I leave) I'll still only be semi-fluent in it.

That said I really don't want to move to a very rural place in Japan, because that will exacerbate an already daunting task. I have heard southern Japan has a very rural dialect that is very different from "standard Japanese". We would like to move to place where there is much natural beauty and nature surrounding us. Essentially we would like to live in Northwest or northeast Japan. Help with this would be appreciated.

We've already looked at some cities/prefectures in northeast Japan which look very promising. However I would like to look at some cities/prefectures located in Northwest Japan just to keep our options open. Please don't give cities that are located near southern Japan (read what I said above please; it explains quite clearly why)

If somebody could give me some cities located in Northwest Japan, that would help

ありがとう　ございます

What do you mean by northern Japan? Northern Honshu or Hokkaido?

Northern Japan (Tohoku) also has a very distinct dialect that's different from standard Japanese :D. Unless you're talking about Hokkaido - most of the people there do speak standard Japanese.

Where you move is going to be limited to where you get employed at. Both of you need to get a job (and a visa of course). You might be hard pressed to find a decent job as a semi-fluent gaijin in some of the less 'international' areas of Japan, although teaching English would be your best bet.

The only city I've been to in northern Japan is Sendai - it's a very beautiful place, and certainly a decent-sized city.

Hatredcopter is right, they have their own dialect very much like the Kansai and Chugoku areas. You have to remember though that all Japanese study the standard Tokyo dialect in school and are completely capable of understanding you.

Could you be a little more specific about your question? Like what prefectures are you asking about?

Niigata, if that counts as North West >.< ..I want to go there.

Yeah, I think it does. Niigata City is obviously the biggest city. From what I have heard, Niigata in general is a little less rural than say Nagano.

Unfortunately I know little about the prefectures of Japan. Most of my time and effort goes into studying and practicing the Japanese language. The region we were looking at was the Sendai region and Sendai is located near Tokyo; some of the Japanese at local businesses they do speak English. I know this because we were looking at tourist attractions because we would like to visit Japan before we move there, and it states quite clearly with some of the attractions, English and Japanese are spoken there.

I don't know what perfecture we're planning on moving to. I also realize that each city is going to have it's own distinct dialect. I'm willing to adjust to learning that dialect, because mastering it will be essential for good communication. However, I don't want the local dialect to be so "different" from standard Japanese that I'm going to have no clue what they're talking about. Learning Japanese is proving to be a quite difficult task as is; I don't need a dialect so vastly diverse from "Tokyo Japanese" as it was referred, because as said earlier it will exacerbate becoming fluent in Japanese.

Basically I'm looking for a prefecture in northwest Japan that isn't so rural. I would like a prefecture that is a combination of a suburbs and rural. This is what I found in Sendai. However, I would like to keep my options open by looking at the prefectures in Northwest Japan. I don't want to move to northern Japan, because the climate will be really cold in the winter, which isn't my cup of tea. This is why I'm looking in Northwest or Northeast Japan.

A city i found was called Akita. I believe it's located in Northwest Japan, but like I said I don't know a whole lot about their prefectures.

Alright, that helps quite a bit. Well, if you are not fond of the cold and snow, Akita prefecture should not be on your list. In fact, anything north of Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma probably shouldn't be on there as well. As far as the west coast of Japan goes, in the winter time this is where all our cold air and blessed snow comes from. Chiba and Ibaraki would be good prefectures for you along with southeastern Gunma and Tochigi. Warning though, Gunma has strong, cold winds blasting across it during the winter because the southeastern portion is basically a big plain.

I honestly think that Ashikaga, Tochigi-ken or the region I live in Ota, Gunma-ken may be ideal. Also Saitama can be fairly rural in it's northwestern half.

Here's a fun little fact to keep in mind, most Japanese houses and apartments are not insulated. But hey, you can buy more blankets and coats!

arigatou gozaimasu for your help and advice.

Are the places you recommended rural, yet semi-industrialized? By this I mean, yes nature and countryside is abundant, but there are also some cities and towns around these areas too? The place I checked out (Sendai) was a mix of rural life, yet it also had some cities and towns nearby and located in the perfecture.

We're trying to avoid places that are overpopulated (big cities we don't want to live in). Like I said, we're looking for a country style town or small city, but we don't want it in
Southern Japan.

My boyfriend doesn't want to live in southern Japan because the climate there is too warm for his taste. I don't want to live in Southern Japan because I heard they have a very different dialect that you have to be a native Japanese in order to understand and communicate in. Since I don't qualify as this being a gajin, I'm trying to avoid living in Southern Japan as a result. These places you listed, are they prefectures or cities located in prefectures? Like I said, I don't know much about Japanese geography.

why are concern about the dialect? if you know Japanese, you can speak it and they will understand you regardless of whatever dialect in the area is. if you speak proper Japanese to a local, they will speak to you in proper Japanese also. They know that you are a foreigner, so they do not expect you to speak the local dialect .

And Sendai, might be a good choice. I have never been there personally, but lots of my friends who have visited the area loved it, but it is cold there in winter.

Because currently I do watch some manga anime where Japanese is spoken and there are English subtitles. They speak so fast I haven't a clue what they're saying ( I can pick out words if I've learned them and recognize their sound; or I can pick out kanji if I've learned it). I even recognize some single kanji characters (if I've learned them in a compound, unfortunately some single kanji i can't translate to romaji and/or give the English translation for, because I haven't learned that kanji yet).

well japanese do speak fast, but to them the is the normal pace. just like english speaker , to japanese they speak really fast , but for us that is just a normal pace.

anime is a good way to practice your listening skill. but be warn that lots of format use in anime are considered rude on daily basis. So just learn proper japanese, and if you ask locals to speak to you slowly , they would gladly do it, so don't be afraid to say/request to speak slowly and properly.

you will get use to it, after a living in Japan :D
well good luck on your japanese studies

How do you plan to move to Japan permanently? Do you have a bachelor's degree?

Eventually I plan to take a course where I can teach English to Japanese. What I'm wondering is, is a bachelor degree required for that (a four year degree). If it's from a four year online course that is reputable (not a "phony" degree) would they accept that?

The bachelor's degree has to be from a reputable college or university.

I realize this; but I'm asking if they'll accept an online degree if it's from a reputable online college course or online university course.

Also, I don't plan to teach English as 2nd language forever (it's not going to be a permanent career for me; basically until we get "settled" in Japan). How would I change my work visa to a different career field?

There's no "online university course" that's going to help you that much. Getting a proper bachelor's degree means attending an accredited university and majoring in a subject. Aside from your major courses, you have to take a variety of courses that involve sciences, humanities, social studies, English, and so on. It's called general education requirements (GER). There are bachelor's degrees you can supposedly earn on the internet, but I've never seen any that involve learning Japanese or teaching English to Japanese students.

Any school you attend must be recognized and accredited by one of the regional accreditation organizations on this page (if you're in the US) -> Regional accreditation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A bachelor's degree that comes from somewhere else is not necessarily considered 100% legit.

My advice is to attend a real university that offers Japanese classes. You can major in TESL and minor in Japanese or something like that. It depends where you live and what universities are in your area. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with online courses, but they aren't going to be that practical if you're intending on moving to Japan. Besides, attending a university for 4 years will be a lot more fun and engaging than sitting at a computer screen for four years.

Yeah loads of fun. Except all I plan to do is earn a bachelor's degree so I can teach English to Japanese students. The rest of the stuff would be superfluous to me, because I'm not going to be teaching various subjects; I'm only going to be teaching one.

You still need to take classes you don't care for to complete your general education requirements. That's just part of college life. You can get a bachelor's degree in any field and teach in Japan.

That's stupid. Why should you have to take classes that don't pertain to what career you're going to be in? By this I mean, why should you take classes where you're not going to use the material that was taught to you, because it's not relevant to the career field you're in? That's bereacraucy.

That's what you call the education system. Undergrad is taking both subject related and unrelated to your field. After that you can take the Graduate studies to further enhance your skill in your field. If your still not satisfied then there is always the Doctorate degree.:vsign:

Getting a working visa in Japan is not easy. A degree is a MUST.

If I may ask how do you plan on staying long or get settled in Japan?
Even if you marry a Japanese national, the maximum for spousal visa is 3 years ( or maximum for all types of long term visa is 3 years ), you need to live in Japan for 5 years before you can apply for naturalization or citizenship. And being married to a Japanese does give a 100% assurance that they will grant you a citizenship.

If you are not married to a local, you need to live in Japan for at least 10years before you can apply for a permanent residency. I am not sure about how long it takes to apply for citizenship in this case.

You said you wish to transfer to a different field after you get "settled". Unless there is a company that will hire you, you won't be able to change your visa status. Depending on your field , you will need to apply for a COE or Certificate of Employment, and believe me its not easy to get this.

Also if you want to have a more legal advice on this, there are support groups all over japan who gives legal advice to foreign residents. It would be better if you consult with them .

Good luck.

No, that's what people do to get a well-rounded education. If you want to live in Japan, you need a bachelor's degree, and to earn a bachelor's degree you have to attend a university and take many different classes. 50% to 75% of your classes will be related to your major, depending what it is. The remaining classes will be in subjects not related to your major, but you often get a very wide variety of classes to choose from - for all my GER classes in college I've been able to find classes that I enjoy. Depending on your university, you may even be able to find a lot of Japanese-related classes that fulfill these GER requirements. For example, I took two semesters of Japanese history to fulfill my social studies requirements, and I took Economics of Japan to fulfill another requirement. It's not as bad as you think :D .

Aside from that, if you do attend a university, you may also be able to study abroad in Japan for a semester or two semesters. I studied in Nagoya for a year and it was one of the best times of my life. You should look into it.